Impact of age and sex correction on the diagnostic performance of dopamine transporter SPECT

PURPOSE: The specific binding ratio (SBR) of (123)I-FP-CIT (FP-CIT) in the putamen decreases with age by about 5% per decade and most likely is about 10% higher in females. However, the clinical utility of age and sex correction of the SBR is still a matter of debate. This study tested the impact of age and sex correction on the diagnostic performance of the putamen SBR in three independent patient samples. METHODS: Research sample: 207 healthy controls (HC) and 438 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Clinical sample A: 183 patients with neurodegenerative parkinsonian syndrome (PS) and 183 patients with non-neurodegenerative PS from one site. Clinical sample B: 84 patients with neurodegenerative PS and 38 patients with non-neurodegenerative PS from another site. Correction for age and sex of the putamen SBR was based on linear regression in the HC or non-neurodegenerative PS, separately in each sample. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was used as performance measure. RESULTS: The putamen SBR was higher in females compared to males (PPMI: 14%, p < 0.0005; clinical sample A: 7%, p < 0.0005; clinical sample B: 6%, p = 0.361). Age-related decline of the putamen SBR ranged between 3.3 and 10.4% (p ≤ 0.019). In subjects ≥ 50 years, age and sex explained < 10% of SBR between-subjects variance. Correction of the putamen SBR for age and sex resulted in slightly decreased AUC in the PPMI sample (0.9955 versus 0.9969, p = 0.025) and in clinical sample A (0.9448 versus 0.9519, p = 0.057). There was a small, non-significant AUC increase in clinical sample B (0.9828 versus 0.9743, p = 0.232). CONCLUSION: These findings do not support age and sex correction of the putaminal FP-CIT SBR in the diagnostic workup of parkinsonian syndromes. This most likely is explained by the fact that the proportion of between-subjects variance caused by age and sex is considerably below the symptom threshold of about 50% reduction in neurodegenerative PS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00259-020-05085-2.